Chapter 5: The Purpose of School Mathematics: Perspectives of Colombian Mathematics Teachers

For decades, the goal of educating critical citizens has been the flag of the Colombian educational system. In the specific area of school mathematics this goal has been underlined as fundamental in curriculum guidelines, emphasising the use of real-life situations as the centre of classroom activity. Teaching school mathematics for “real life,” however—according to the findings of this study carried out with the participation of thirteen mathematics teachers with a range of teaching experiences—was making sure that the list of content items included in schools’ syllabuses was covered, for a prime concern for the schools was to secure a good place in the league tables produced by the National External Examination body. The teachers’ conceptions (encompassing knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes) of the requirements of the external examination had a strong influence in their thinking about what mathematics education is for, and why. These findings highlight the difficulty of moving away from a school mathematics dominated by the academic curriculum designed with the needs—as established by the education system—of the few moving on to higher education. It is argued that the mathematics education for “critical citizenship” put forward by Colombian policy needs to emphasise a diversity of situated, social, cultural, and political mathematical practices, giving important attention to the mathematical theories that help to describe and explain those prac- tices—with mathematics as a critical tool to analyse and develop awareness of reality. Clarification of the tasks of those responsible for the implementation of such curriculum (which includes external assessment) is needed.